The Melodramatic Nation: Integration and Polarization in the Argentine Cinema of the 1930s

Abstract

The 1930s represent a paradoxical decade within Argentine cultural history. Historians in search of the origins of Peronism have uncovered rising class antagonisms in these years. The dislocations of import substitution industrialization and massive internal migration, along with the restricted political system ushered in by the military coup of 1930, deepened class resentment among workers, creating a receptive audience for Juan Perón’s populist message.1 But whereas this narrative emphasizes class-based polarization, a different historiography has stressed the integrative forces at work in these years. Beginning with several pioneering articles by Leandro Gutiérrez and Luis Alberto Romero on Buenos Aires in the interwar period, this scholarship has charted the emergence of a new identity rooted in the city’s rapidly expanding barrios, where home-ownership was becoming a more accessible goal and where skilled and unskilled workers often lived alongside white-collar employees, small-business owners, and professionals. According to this interpretation, Argentina’s dynamic economy created real opportunities for social mobility in the 1920s and 1930s; in this context, the militant working-class consciousness of earlier years gave way to an identity that was less grounded in class. In fact, these historians downplay the relevance of social class in this period, preferring to explore the culture, values, and identity of the heterogeneous, undifferentiated “popular sectors.” Mostly Argentine-born children of immigrants, these popular sectors were intent on self-improvement and upward mobility; unlike their parents, they embraced integration into Argentine society as the means to a more comfortable life.2Although the emphasis on mobility as both socioeconomic reality and widespread aspiration has illuminated the period, it is of only limited use in explaining the origins of Peronism. While Perón undoubtedly tapped into the desire for a higher standard of living, he also addressed his supporters in explicitly classist terms. In fact, while Perón initially sought to build a broad, multiclass movement, class polarization made it impossible to hold this coalition together. In light of these events, the notion that the pursuit of individual mobility had simply replaced working-class consciousness in the 1930s is unconvincing. The concept of the “popular sectors” obscures a complex process of identity formation marked by fluidity and ambiguity. The aspiration to a middle-class lifestyle must have coexisted with the persistence of working-class loyalties.3In part, the shortcomings of the “popular sectors” historiography reflect the rather narrow range of sources on which it relies. Historians have exhaustively analyzed the myriad new barrio associations, newspapers, and popular libraries that preached the gospel of upward mobility. But they have yet to show much interest in one of the other major developments of the period: the explosion of mass culture. Apart from some creative analyses of tango lyrics, historians have generally been content to cite the omnipresence of radios and movie theaters in the as that the pursuit of upward mobility and class the of mass simply the content of the and in the barrios, historians have a the paradoxical cultural of the to this by the in the years the of in In this period, Argentine a major in the of Buenos Aires and and class and of these a mass that an society also the for the polarization of the Perón historians have to the Argentine of the have of and of of as as the of individual scholarship has the that cultural historians have it to their the in this period, has been a both in and in while have several in Argentine the of and the social of they have stressed the According to the the of the in the 1930s and from populist and more middle-class and by to that the Argentine was from to with to the and of their they also to their in to a that they on popular in the in the tango popular and of the to and the as as to from they to at cultural But and to the on the of the of the by these with the and the Argentine from the of by in this is by that reflect the consciousness of the to to a mass by a of cultural individual and the of the is a is an of from mass with from which to their and while to they In to the that movie in a historians to to both the of and the on popular and the to the of Argentine in the as as the cultural and within which the were and a of several of the of the movie and Luis and have to on and was by they have often been as from these their a the Argentine integration and class Argentine a the they were generally by from and the the of into by the had of the of the period, Argentine the of and and were only to an Argentine as only Argentine were in that had to But the of the Argentine In the and were created in to for the The the in in in and an of and Buenos Aires and a of the the by the to the they only to Argentine in had to the of from the the made a to the Argentine by and had only in Buenos Aires in the as In to these Argentine were the of their Argentine were to a system that a of the to to on a and from the they But the other from the of popular in the as the by at a they this the an of this audience was to the that in But the Argentine of the 1930s must have to in a way that Argentine were in in the and were often to from their in and as of the these addressed of relevance to Argentine the of the the were a popular of in Argentine as theaters in the as a of in the of Buenos years in with movie the of for the that the Argentine to the of these to the of the the theaters on one movie in were in the the and as as 1930, working-class and had their movie were at the for the and for But barrio movie were much more accessible to popular for as as at a unskilled workers and a on that at barrio theaters were to a of at and as as In the barrios, the were a for The of Argentina’s only it that of the audience for is among the was of an at Argentine While of social the audience for was of the and a class Argentine has a for In fact, for much of the to show Argentine at and the for popular In the movie only of theaters were Argentine But among the barrio the to with barrio theaters several The a cultural marked by a of the of this were the major new for a at the other of the were Argentine at barrio theaters at accessible to the of the the with made the a of The was often as a to from Argentine In a that with their the of a to an popular in the have a of to the at their as to to more the with was as a of The on to Argentine Argentine in movie of an Argentine as an to the and of the the the of the gave Argentine the to their In the and the of a from the of was by the of The that Argentine were for as they had for a major has and to the it Argentine both to the and by and to their from the sought to in a different context, has an a of of and that the and of the Argentine mass While they to the of Argentine that they by in popular culture. 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